1922–23 British Home Championship

The 1922–23 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1922–23 season. It was won by the strongest of the Home Nations during the decade, Scotland who almost whitewashed the other three nations but ultimately were held to a 2–2 draw by England in the final, deciding match.

England and Scotland dominated the tournament, both winning their opening two matches. England began six months earlier than their opponents, defeating Ireland at home in October 1923. Scotland matched this result in their opening game in March 1924 and continued with a second victory over Wales, against whom England only managed a draw in Cardiff; in the final matches, Scotland drew with England, doing just enough to take the trophy by a single point. Ireland, playing for pride comprehensively beat Wales in the last match of the competition to come third.

1.
Football (soccer)
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England

2.
Home Nations
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The Home Nations, or Home Countries, refers collectively to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and in certain sports contexts, to England, Scotland, Wales and the whole island of Ireland. The term Home Countries is also used, and is synonymous. The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom, but are associated with it. In association football, the Home Nations originally referred to the four national teams of the United Kingdom, England, Ireland, Scotland. The English Football Association, and the media used the term Home Nations to describe the parties to the debate. In the event, a team consisting only of English and Welsh players took part, in 1883, the first Home Nations Championship was played between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At this point in its history, the competition contained only teams from the UK, in 1910, France officially joined the competition and it was renamed the Five Nations Championship. Since the admission of Italy in 2000, the tournament has been known by its current name, victory by any Home Nation over the other three Home Nations is a Triple Crown. The Home Nations also contribute players to a team known as the British and Irish Lions. Southern Hemisphere teams who beat all four nations in one tour are said to have a Grand Slam Tour. The Amateur Four Nations competition in rugby league, run annually from 2002 to 2007 for the A sides of Wales, terminology of the British Isles Countries of the United Kingdom

3.
Scotland national football team
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The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the two professional tournaments, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. Scotland, as a constituent country of the United Kingdom, is not a member of the International Olympic Committee, the majority of Scotlands home matches are played at the national stadium, Hampden Park. Scotland is the joint oldest national team in the world, alongside England. Scotland has a rivalry with England, whom they played annually from 1872 until 1989. The teams have met six times since then, most recently in November 2016. Scotland have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions and the UEFA European Championship twice, the team have achieved some noteworthy results, such as beating the 1966 FIFA World Cup winners England 3–2 at Wembley Stadium in 1967. Archie Gemmill scored what has been described as one of the greatest World Cup goals ever in a 3–2 win during the 1978 World Cup against the Netherlands, in their qualifying group for UEFA Euro 2008, Scotland defeated 2006 World Cup runners-up France 1–0 in both fixtures. Scotland supporters are known as the Tartan Army. The Scottish Football Association operates a roll of honour for every player who has more than 50 appearances for Scotland. Kenny Dalglish holds the record for Scotland appearances, having played 102 times between 1971 and 1986, Dalglish scored 30 goals for Scotland and shares the record for most goals scored with Denis Law. Scotland and England are the oldest national teams in the world. Teams representing the two sides first competed at the Oval in five matches between 1870 and 1872, the two countries contested the first official international football match, at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland, on 30 November 1872. The match ended in a goalless draw, all eleven players who represented Scotland that day played for Glasgow amateur club Queens Park. Over the next forty years, Scotland played matches exclusively against the other three Home Nations—England, Wales and Ireland, the British Home Championship began in 1883, making these games competitive. The encounters against England were particularly fierce and a rivalry quickly developed, Scotland lost just two of their first 43 international matches. It was not until a 2–0 home defeat by Ireland in 1903 that Scotland lost a match to an other than England. This run of success meant that Scotland would have topped the Elo ratings

4.
England national football team
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The England national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England are one of the two oldest national teams in football, alongside Scotland, whom played in the worlds first international football match in 1872. Englands home ground is Wembley Stadium, London, and the current manager is Gareth Southgate, England contest the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, which alternate biennially. In contesting for the World Cup seventeen times over the past sixty four years, England won the 1966 World Cup, when they hosted the finals, the England national football team is the joint-oldest in the world, it was formed at the same time as Scotland. A representative match between England and Scotland was played on 5 March 1870, having been organised by the Football Association, a return fixture was organised by representatives of Scottish football teams on 30 November 1872. Over the next forty years, England played exclusively with the other three Home Nations—Scotland, Wales and Ireland—in the British Home Championship, to begin with, England had no permanent home stadium. They joined FIFA in 1906 and played their first ever games against countries other than the Home Nations on a tour of Central Europe in 1908, Wembley Stadium was opened in 1923 and became their home ground. The relationship between England and FIFA became strained, and this resulted in their departure from FIFA in 1928 and their first ever defeat on home soil to a foreign team was a 0–2 loss to the Republic of Ireland, on 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park. A 6–3 loss in 1953 to Hungary, was their defeat by a foreign team at Wembley. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7–1 and this still stands as Englands worst ever defeat. After the game, a bewildered Syd Owen said, it was like playing men from outer space, in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, England reached the quarter-finals for the first time, and lost 4–2 to reigning champions Uruguay. Although Walter Winterbottom was appointed as Englands first ever manager in 1946. In UEFA Euro 1968, the reached the semi-finals for the first time. England qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico as reigning champions, and reached the quarter-finals, England had been 2–0 up, but were eventually beaten 3–2 after extra time. They failed in qualification for the 1974, leading to Ramseys dismissal, under Ron Greenwood, they managed to qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, despite not losing a game, they were eliminated in the second group stage. Despite losing to Italy in the third place play-off, the members of the England team were given bronze medals identical to the Italians’, the England team of 1990 were welcomed home as heroes and thousands of people lined the streets, for a spectacular open-top bus parade. However, the team did not win any matches in UEFA Euro 1992, drawing with tournament winners Denmark, the 1990s saw four England managers, each in the role for a relatively brief period. Graham Taylor was Robsons successor, but resigned after England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, at UEFA Euro 1996, held in England, Terry Venables led England, equalling their best performance at a European Championship, reaching the semi-finals as they did in 1968

5.
Wales national football team
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The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales, the body for football in Wales. During their history, Wales have qualified for two international tournaments. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 FIFA World Cup and they reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 after beating Belgium in the quarter-final match on 1 July 2016. This was, therefore, the first time that Wales had reached the semi-final of a major tournament, Wales also progressed through UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying to the quarter-final, which was played on a home and away leg basis but they did not feature in the finals tournament. At all levels including the teams the Welsh national team draws players primarily from clubs in the English football league system. The main professional Welsh clubs play in the English leagues, with some full-time and part-time professional clubs playing in the Welsh football league system. Wales played its first competitive match on 25 March 1876 against Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland took the spoils winning 2–0. Wales first match against England came in 1879 – a 2–1 defeat at the Kennington Oval, London and in 1882 Wales faced Ireland for the first time, the associations of the four Home Nations met in Manchester on 6 December 1882 to set down a set of worldwide rules. This meeting saw the establishment of the International Football Association Board to approve changes to the rules, the 1883–84 season saw the formation of the British Home Championship, a tournament which was played annually between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, until 1983–84. Wales were champions on 12 occasions, winning seven times whilst sharing the title five times. As a result, Wales did not enter the first three World Cups, in 1932 Wales played host to the Republic of Ireland, the first time they played against a side from outside the four home nations. A year later, Wales played a match outside the United Kingdom for the first time when they travelled to Paris to take on France in a match which was drawn 1–1. The top two teams were to qualify for the finals in Brazil, but Wales finished bottom of the group. The 1950s were an age for Welsh football with stars such as Ivor Allchurch, Cliff Jones, Alf Sherwood, Jack Kelsey, Trevor Ford, Ronnie Burgess, Terry Medwin. Wales made its only World Cup finals tournament appearance in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, however, their path to qualification was unusual. In the Asian/African qualifying zone Egypt and Sudan had refused to play against Israel following the Suez crisis, as a result, FIFA proclaimed Israel winners of their respective group. However, FIFA did not want a team to qualify for the World Cup finals without actually playing a match and so lots were drawn of all the second placed teams in UEFA

6.
Cardiff
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Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media. The unitary authority areas mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, the Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographics alternative tourist destinations, the city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities, the Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly, sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff International Sports Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park. The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major sporting events, first in 2009. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event. Caerdydd derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf, the change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology. This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages, Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning the fort of the Taff. The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans, the anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff and Llandaff. As English does not have the vowel the final vowel has been borrowed as /ɪ/, although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Gwynedd Pierce. A group of five Bronze Age tumuli is at the summit of The Garth, four Iron Age hill fort and enclosure sites have been identified within Cardiffs present-day county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of 5.1 hectares. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta that acted as border defences, the fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a settlement, or vicus, was established

7.
Harry Chambers
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Henry Harry Chambers was an England international footballer who played in the Football League for Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion. Born in Willington Quay, Northumberland, England, Harry was an international at age eleven when he attended Willington Board School. After school he played for North Shields Athletic, Kings Park, Belfast Distillery and Glentoran before he was signed, from North Shields, unfortunately, he signed just before the suspension of league football due to the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted in Irish infantry regiment The Connaught Rangers, with whom he served until invalided out of the army in 1917, after scoring on his debut he went on to establish himself as the undisputed goal king of Anfield in the immediate post-war years. In total he scored 151 goals in 338 appearances for Liverpool including a memorable hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Everton at Anfield in October 1922. Harry was allowed to leave and in April 1928, aged 32, before he retired from the professional game he went on to be player-manager for Oakengates Town, at the same time as running a local public house called The Stafford Arms, and represent Hereford. He was buried at Wombridge Parish Church near Oakengates, England 8 caps,5 goals Player profile at LFChistory. net

8.
The Hawthorns
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The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,850. It has been the home of Premier League club West Bromwich Albion F. C. since 1900, the Hawthorns was the first Football League ground to be built in the 20th century opening in September 1900, after construction work took only 4 months. At an altitude of 551 feet, it is the highest ground among those of all 92 Premier League, during the early years of the club, West Bromwich Albion led something of a nomadic existence, playing at five different grounds in a 22-year period. Their first ground was Coopers Hill, which the club occupied from 1878 to 1879, from 1879 to 1881 they played at Dartmouth Park, although they may also have alternated between there and Coopers Hill during this period. Albions third ground was Bunns Field, also known as The Birches, with a capacity of 1500–2000, it was their first enclosed ground, allowing the club to charge an entrance fee for the first time. Albions tenure of Stoney Lane, from 1885 to 1900, was arguably the most successful period in the clubs history, as the club won the FA Cup twice and were runners-up three times. The expiry of the lease on Stoney Lane, as well as the desire for a more spacious location, saw them move once again in 1900. All of Albions previous grounds had been close to the centre of West Bromwich, the area was covered in hawthorn bushes, which were cleared to make way for the new ground, hence its name, the Hawthorns. When opened, the Hawthorns could hold around 35,500 spectators, the first match took place on Monday 3 September 1900, when Albion drew 1–1 with Derby County in front of a crowd of 20,104. Derbys England international Steve Bloomer scored the first Hawthorns goal, with Chippy Simmons equalizing for Albion, the 1900–01 campaign was not a successful one however, as Albion finished bottom of the table and were relegated to Division Two. Their defeat to Sheffield United on the day of the season was witnessed by just 1,050 spectators. The ground was expanded and 1923 saw the first ever 50. The first 60, 000+ gate followed in 1925, with 64,612 fans watching a cup tie with arch-rivals Aston Villa. The all-time attendance record at the Hawthorns was set on 6 March 1937 and it is worth noting that this attendance was probably bettered, when Albion played Newcastle in a fifth round tie in 1954, when over 80,000 people turned up. The official crowd was put at 61,088, the highest ever league crowd was for a 1–1 draw 60,945 against Wolves on 4 March 1950. Concrete terracing was added to the ground in 1920, in 1949 the ground became the first in Britain to have an electronic turnstile aggregator fitted, in order to automatically calculate attendances. In 1957 electric floodlights were erected, at a cost of £18,000, the grounds first floodlit match saw Albion draw 1–1 with Chelsea, on 18 September 1957. Soon afterwards a friendly game against the Russian Red Army was organised to officially open them, Albion won 6–5 in front of 53,805 fans

9.
West Bromwich
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West Bromwich /wɛst ˈbrɒmɪtʃ/ is a town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically in Staffordshire, it is in the Black Country,5 miles northwest of Birmingham, West Bromwich was first mentioned as Bromwic in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is believed that it may have originally been part of the Handsworth parish, a Benedictine priory existed in West Bromwich from the 12th century around which the settlement of Broomwich Heath grew. In 1727, the became a stop on the coaching road between London and Shrewsbury and its growth began. The prefix West serves to distinguish it from the village of Castle Bromwich, also in the West Midlands but the other side of Birmingham. In the 19th century, coal deposits were discovered, ensuring that the town rapidly as an industrial centre, with industries such as spring, gun. Well before the end of the 19th century, West Bromwich had established itself as a prominent area to match older neighbouring towns including Dudley, in 1888, West Bromwich became a county borough, incorporating the village of Great Barr. Charlemont Hall, built during the 1750s, stood on the west side of the present Charlemont Crescent, in the Charlemont, Charlemont Hall was described c.1800 as a lofty neat-looking house of brick, faced with stone, with iron palisades etc. in front. An east wing was added in 1855, the last occupant was the widow of Thomas Jones, town clerk of Wednesbury 1897–1921. The house was demolished in 1948, and is now covered by a number of detached homes. Much of the area was developed during the 1960s as the Charlemont Farm housing estate. West Bromwich suffered heavily in the Cholera epidemic of 1831 which spread northwards into the town, a temporary board of health was set up and a hospital opened in the former Revivalist chapel in Spon Lane. The natural gradual slope of the land provided drainage within the soil, however, urbanisation made this increasingly difficult, the West Bromwich Town Improvement Commissioners was established in 1854, and they tackled the drainage problem in the town. They appointed members to new titles and in the 1880s bought land in Friar Park for a sewerage farm. Under the Reform Act 1832, West Bromwich became part of the new division of Staffordshire. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, the borough of West Bromwich became a parliamentary borough returning one member, in 1918, it was won by Labour who have held it since, except for between 1931 and 1935 when it held by the National Unionists. After the end of the war, the council started building new homes to rehouse people from the rundown town centre. However, there are many late 19th century and early 20th century buildings around the centre of West Bromwich today

10.
Windsor Park
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The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the ground of Linfield F. C. and the Northern Ireland national football team, and is also where the Irish Cup. Named after the district in south Belfast in which it is located, Windsor Park was first opened in 1905, most of the current stadium was designed and built in the 1930s, to a design made by the Scottish architect Archibald Leitch. It had one main seated stand - the Grandstand, now known as the South Stand - with reserved terracing in front, to the north, there was a long covered terrace - the unreserved terracing - and behind the eastern goal at the Railway End another covered terrace. Windsor Parks peak capacity in this format was 60,000, in the 1980s, the unreserved terrace was demolished and replaced by a two-tier, 7000-seat North Stand. In the late 1990s, the Kop terrace was demolished and replaced with the 5000-seater Kop Stand, the plans for the multi-purpose stadium at the Maze site was strongly protested by essentially all the Northern Ireland match-going supporters. In September 2009, the Irish Football Association announced that its preferred option was to remain at a redeveloped Windsor Park, in 2012, details of the stadiums redevelopment were released. The plan would see Windsor Park become an 18,000 all-seater stadium with a series of phased works originally intended to begin in the summer of 2013. In February 2013, planning permission for the redevelopment was granted, with the estimated cost of the project around £29.2 million and it was planned for the work to begin in September 2013. The aspect of the challenge concerning competition law however, was thrown out, in July 2013, Crusaders agreed to a possible settlement brought forward by the judicial review. The details of the settlement were not forthcoming, but Crusaders said that it had the potential to benefit the entirety of the football family, in May 2014, work finally got under way on the stadium redevelopment. As a consequence, the area around the stand had to be sealed off, the preliminary structural report delivered to the IFA recommended that the damaged stand be demolished. Plans for a new West Stand were approved in November 2015, the new structure was intended to be ready in time for Northern Irelands World Cup qualifier against San Marino in October 2016. IFCP photos from Windsor Park Ulster Groundhopper Video tour of the ground

11.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998

12.
The Football Association
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The Football Association, also known simply as the FA, is the governing body of association football in England, and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur, the FA sanctions all competitive football matches within its remit at national level, and indirectly at local level through the County Football Associations. It runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the FA Cup, the FA is a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board which is responsible for the laws of the game. As the first football association, it not use the national name English in its title. The FA is based at Wembley Stadium, London, the FA is a member of the British Olympic Association, meaning that the FA has control over the mens and womens Great Britain Olympic football team. All of Englands professional football teams are members of the Football Association, although it does not run the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, it has veto power over the appointment of the League Chairman and Chief Executive and over any changes to league rules. The English Football League, made up of the three professional divisions below the Premier League, is self-governing, subject to the FAs sanctions. Another set of rules, the Sheffield Rules, was used by a number of clubs in the North of England from the 1850s, eleven London football clubs and schools representatives met on 26 October 1863 to agree on common rules. The founding clubs present at the first meeting were Barnes, Civil Service, Crusaders, Forest of Leytonstone, many of these clubs are now defunct or play rugby union. Civil Service FC, who now plays in the Southern Amateur League, is the one of the original eleven football clubs still in existence. There are only three institutions which have been members of the F. A. since 1863, those being Civil Service, Forest School and Kings College. Central to the creation of the Football Association and modern football was Ebenezer Cobb Morley and he was a founding member of the Football Association in 1863. In 1862, as captain of Barnes, he wrote to Bells Life newspaper proposing a governing body for the sport led to the first meeting at The Freemasons Tavern that created the FA. He was the FAs first secretary and its president and drafted the Laws of the Game generally called the London Rules at his home in Barnes. As a player, he played in the first ever match in 1863, the first version of the rules for the modern game was drawn up over a series of six meetings held in The Freemasons Tavern from October till December. Of the clubs at the first meeting, Crusaders, Surbiton and Charterhouse did not attend the subsequent meetings, replaced instead by the Royal Navy School, Wimbledon School, at the final meeting, F. M. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, the term soccer dates back to this split to refer to football played under the association rules. The Richmond side were obviously unimpressed by the new rules in practice because they helped form the Rugby Football Union in 1871

13.
Fred Keenor
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Frederick Charles Fred Keenor was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international. He began his career at his hometown club Cardiff City after impressing the clubs coaching staff in a trial match in 1912 that was organised by his former schoolteacher. During the conflict, he fought in the Battle of the Somme, after lengthy rehabilitation, he returned to Britain and ended the war as a fitness instructor, reaching the rank of sergeant. In 1926, he replaced the departing Jimmy Blair as club captain, leading the team to success in the 1927 FA Cup Final later in the season, to date, this is the only time the competition has been won by a team based outside Englands borders. A statue of Keenor, lifting the FA Cup, was erected outside Cardiffs new stadium, Keenor finished his career with spells at Crewe Alexandra, Oswestry Town and Tunbridge Wells. Following his death in 1972, Football Association of Wales secretary Trevor Morris commented Fred Keenor will go down as one of the greatest players, Fred Keenor was born in Cardiff, Wales, as one of eleven children. He was raised in the home, a terraced house in Theodora Street in Roath. His father worked as a stonemason in the city, working hours in order to be able to afford the employment of Elizabeth Maler. Although they were not regarded as being in poverty, the family lived in cramped conditions and he attended Stacey Road primary school in Adamsdown and captained the schools football team for several years and he was later selected to represent the city of Cardiffs schoolboy team. One of his teachers at the school, Walter Riden. Keenor later stated that he did not think twice about it, the Cardiff City amateur side competed in the Western Football League at the time and Keenor appeared several times in the division. Keenor often spoke of using the defeat as motivation in later stages of his career and it has a moral which I pass on to every young footballer. His whole-hearted performances for the amateur side persuaded the club to offer Keenor his first professional contract, despite this, he continued to work locally as a labourer, giving him two streams of income which he described as making him feel like a millionaire. He made just two appearances for the side during the remainder of the 1913–14 season, featuring in a 2–1 victory over Plymouth Argyle. During this period, Cardiff City had come under pressure from local newspapers, most notably the Western Mail, for the perceived lack of contribution from the club in supporting the war effort. Keenor joined the 17th Middlesex Battalion, which known as the Football Battalion due to the large amount of footballers that made up the core of the unit. He made 21 appearances in the league during the season, scoring two goals, with the war escalating, the Football Association officially suspended all of its competitions at the end of the 1914–15 season. Keenor was a poor shot with a rifle, even being described by the regimental sergeant major as the worst shot he had ever seen

14.
Vic Watson
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Victor Martin Watson was an English professional footballer who played most of his club football for West Ham United. Watson, a forward, played 505 times for West Ham between 1920 and 1936. The club paid just £50 for Vic from Wellingborough, bringing him in to cover for Syd Puddefoot. Watson is the record goalscorer with 326 goals with 298 league and 28 FA cup. 203 of his goals were from 295 top flight appearances. He once scored six, in an 8-2 home win against Leeds on 9 February 1929, Watson gained two international caps with England in 1923 and a further three caps in 1930, scoring four goals in total, including two against Scotland in the 1930 British Home Championship. He spent one season with Southampton before retiring and he was the top scorer with 14 goals in 36 league appearances. Upon retiring, he became a gardener in Girton. He died in August 1988 at the age of 90, in June 2010 a plaque honouring Watson was unveiled in Girton. West Ham United Division Two Runners Up, 1922–23 FA Cup finalist,1923 England British Home Championship,1930 Victor Watson profile at englandfc. com Vic Watson photos West Ham statistics

15.
Ninian Park
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Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. The site is now a development with the same name. Between 1910 and 2009 the Ninian Park stadium was the ground of Cardiff City F. C. Ninian Park stadium was demolished and the site was redeveloped with residential housing. Ninian Park is named after Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, son of John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, the ground featured large floodlights in each corner and a plasma-screen television showed highlights during the game. The stadium hosted a number of Welsh international fixtures, including the Wales v Scotland World Cup qualifier on 10 September 1985, at which Scotland manager Jock Stein collapsed and died. The last ever Cardiff City football match played at Ninian Park was a 3-0 defeat to Ipswich Town, the club relocated to their new all-seater stadium for the 2009-10 season, and the 99-year-old Ninian Park was demolished later in 2009 to make way for a housing development. This left Corneli Primary Schools manager, lifelong Cardiff fan Alex Clarke, the stadium featured four stands, the Spar Family Stand, the John Smiths Grange End, the Popular Bank and the Grandstand. The Grandstand was a two-tier, all-seater stand, with old-fashioned wooden seats in the upper tier and this stand also had several supporting poles holding up the roof. This stand also housed the area in which the player dressing rooms and tunnel were incorporated, as well as housing the dugouts, the V. I. P. area and the press/media benches. The Popular Bank had a mixture of covered seating to the rear of the stand and it also had several supporting poles, and one section housed the away fans. The away section had terracing to the back and seating at the front, in between the home and away fans was a gap separating opposing fans from home fans. There was also netting in the middle just in case anybody wanted to get to the side or throw anything. This gap in between the fans came in in 2005 where before there was just a metal fence separating home. It was officially opened on 1 September 1928 before a match against Burnley by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff. The area behind the goal where the stand was built was previously an earth embankment, in the 1946/1947 season a spectator fell through the roof of the Grange End during a game with Bristol City. The Spar Family Stand was a covered, all-seated stand with several supporting poles along the width of the stand. The club ticket office was located within this stand where an exterior entrance was provided

16.
Love Street (stadium)
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St Mirren Park, more commonly known as Love Street, was a football stadium located on Love Street in Paisley, Scotland. At one time the stadium was capable of accommodating almost 50,000 spectators, until its closure in 2009, it was the home ground of St Mirren F. C. The football grounds on Love Street were registered as Fullerton Park for St Mirrens first season there as they were rented from a Mr Fullerton. The grounds record attendance was 47,438 for a match against Celtic in 1949, St Mirren completed construction of their new St Mirren Park in December 2008. St Mirren played their last game at Love Street, against Motherwell, when St Mirren began to play on Love Street in the mid-1890s football clubs were still very much in their infancy and moved from ground to ground renting from local landowners. The best deal available was commonly a ten-year lease and by the time St Mirren arrived at Love Street and they had previously played on four sites in the north of Paisley, Shortroods Estate, Abingdon Park, Thistle Park, Greenhill Road, and Westmarch Estate, Greenhill Road. Paisley clubs Abercorn, who played at Underwood Park, and St Mirren joined the Scottish Football League when it started in 1890–91. Following twelve years playing at Westmarch, St Mirren moved in 1894 in response to a 100% rent increase by the landlord who appeared to have lost interest in hosting football on his land. The club found a former brickworks at the foot of Love Street which could be rented for a ten years on reasonable terms. However, it would give St Mirren the significant advantage of being nearer to Paisley town centre than any of the football clubs in the town. Furthermore, the site was well known to the townsfolk as an entertainment venue. St Mirren played their first home game at Love Street, a 3–0 defeat to Celtic, shortly after the original ten-year lease ran out, the club was almost forced to move away from Love Street, much as it had already been from Westmarch. The club hastily looked for alternatives, and began negotiations with the owners of the Shortroods Estate where St Mirren had played for its first season. However, with the prospect of losing out altogether, Mr Fullerton backed down, reducing his asking price to £3,900 and thus Saints purchased and stayed at Love Street. Over the course of the fifteen years the club’s aim was to expand the site by buying the land that bordered on two sides – towards the town and round onto Greenock Road. However, it was not until 1920 that the land was finally secured, however, before building began, the Great Depression in the United Kingdom tightened its grip and costs more than doubled in the space of six months. The grandstand was reduced in size by almost two-thirds with the steel clad in corrugated sheeting to further reduce costs. Twenty years later new floodlight pylons were installed and plans appeared for redeveloping St Mirren Park as an all-seater stadium, there was also talk of incorporating airport car-parking, or a hotel, or commercial office space

17.
Paisley, Renfrewshire
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Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area. The town is situated on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes, straddling the banks of the White Cart Water. The town, a burgh, forms part of the contiguous Greater Glasgow urban area. It is regularly cited as Scotlands largest town as it has yet to attain city status. By the 19th century, Paisley had established itself as a centre of the industry, giving its name to the Paisley shawl. The towns associations with political Radicalism were highlighted by its involvement in the Radical War of 1820, as of 1993, all of Paisleys mills had closed, although they are memorialised in the towns museums and civic history. Paisley is bidding for UK City of Culture in 2021 as part of plans to use culture, however, some Scottish place-name books suggest Pæssas wood/clearing, from the Old English personal name Pæssa, clearing, and leāh, wood. Pasilege and Paslie are recorded previous spellings of the name, a chapel is said to have been established by the 6th/7th century Irish monk, Saint Mirin at a site near a waterfall on the White Cart Water known as the Hammils. Though Paisley lacks contemporary documentation it may have been, along with Glasgow and Govan, a priory was established in 1163 from the Cluniac priory at Wenlock in Shropshire, England at the behest of Walter fitz Alan High Steward of Scotland. In 1245 this was raised to the status of an Abbey, the restored Abbey and adjacent Place, constructed out of part of the medieval claustral buildings, survive as a Church of Scotland parish church. One of Scotlands major religious houses, Paisley Abbey was much favoured by the Bruce and it is generally accepted that William Wallace was educated here. King Robert III was buried in the Abbey and his tomb has not survived, but that of Princess Marjorie Bruce, ancestor of the Stewarts, is one of Scotlands few royal monuments to survive the Reformation. Paisley coalesced under James IIs wish that the lands should become a single regality and, as a result, markets, trading, in 1488 the towns status was raised by James IV to Burgh of barony. Many trades sprang up and the first school was established in 1577 by the Town Council, the Paisley witches, also known as the Bargarran witches or the Renfrewshire witches, were tried in Paisley in 1697. Seven were convicted and five were hanged and then burnt on the Gallow Green and their remains were buried at Maxwelton Cross in the west end of the town. This was the last mass execution for witchcraft in western Europe, a horse shoe was placed on top of the site to lock in the evil. A horse shoe is still visible in the middle of busy road junction today—though not the original. The modern shoe is made of bronze and bears the inscription, Pain Inflicted, Suffering Endured, the Industrial Revolution based on the textile industry turned Paisley from a small market town to an important industrial town in the late 18th century

18.
Hampden Park
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Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 51, 866-capacity venue serves as the stadium of football in Scotland. It is also used for concerts and other sporting events. There were two 19th century stadia called Hampden Park, built on different sites, a stadium on the present site was first opened on 31 October 1903. Hampden was the biggest stadium in the world when it was opened and this was increased further between 1927 and 1937, reaching a peak of 150,000. The record attendance of 149,415, for a Scotland v England match in 1937, is the European record for a football match. Tighter safety regulations meant that the capacity was reduced to 81,000 in 1977, the stadium has been fully renovated since then, with the most recent work being completed in 1999. The stadium houses the offices of the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Professional Football League, Hampden has hosted prestigious sporting events, including three Champions League finals, two Cup Winners Cup finals and a UEFA Cup final. Hampden is a UEFA category four stadium and it is served by the nearby Mount Florida, Queens Park, the oldest club in Scottish football, have played at a venue called Hampden Park since October 1873. The first Hampden Park was overlooked by a terrace named after Englishman John Hampden. Queens Park played at the first Hampden Park for 10 years beginning with a Scottish Cup tie on 25 October 1873, the ground hosted the first Scottish Cup Final, in 1874, and a Scotland v England match in 1878. The club moved to the second Hampden Park,150 yards from the original, a lawn bowling club at the junction of Queens Drive and Cathcart Road marks the site of the first Hampden. The second Hampden Park opened in October 1884 and it became a regular home to the Scottish Cup Final, but Celtic Park shared some of the big matches including the Scotland v England fixture in 1894. In the late 1890s, Queens Park requested more land for development of the second Hampden Park and this was refused by the landlords, which led to the club seeking a new site. Henry Erskine Gordon agreed to sell 12 acres of land off Somerville Drive to Queens Park in November 1899, james Miller designed twin grandstands along the south side of the ground with a pavilion wedged in between. The natural slopes were shaped to form banks of terracing, designed by Archibald Leitch, construction of the new ground took over three years to complete, during construction, a disaster occurred at Ibrox in which part of the wooden terraces collapsed. In response, the terraces at Hampden were firmly set in the earthwork, Third Lanark A. C. took over the second Hampden Park in 1903 and renamed it Cathkin Park. The club rebuilt the ground from scratch due to a failure to agree a fee for the whole stadium, Third Lanark went out of business in 1967 and Cathkin Park is now a public park with much of the original terracing still evident

19.
Glasgow
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Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and third largest in the United Kingdom. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is now one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and it is situated on the River Clyde in the countrys West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as Glaswegians, Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain. From the 18th century the city grew as one of Great Britains main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America. Glasgow was the Second City of the British Empire for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers about 2.3 million people, at the 2011 census, Glasgow had a population density of 8, 790/sq mi, the highest of any Scottish city. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is well known in the sporting world for the football rivalry of the Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers. Glasgow is also known for Glasgow patter, a dialect that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city. Glasgow is the form of the ancient Cumbric name Glas Cau. Possibly referring to the area of Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, the later Gaelic name Baile Glas Chu, town of the grey dog, is purely a folk-etymology. The present site of Glasgow has been settled since prehistoric times, it is for settlement, being the furthest downstream fording point of the River Clyde, the origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotlands second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the 10th and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King David I of Scotland and John, there had been an earlier religious site established by Saint Mungo in the 6th century. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland, bringing wealth, sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives as the Glasgow Fair. Glasgow grew over the following centuries, the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the towns religious and educational status and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe, Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. The citys Tobacco Lords created a water port at Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde. By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on Glasgows River Clyde, at the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton

20.
Billy Gillespie
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Gillespie was born in Kerrykeel, County Donegal, Ireland and began his career with Irish side Institute in 1907. After a short spell with Linfield he moved to England to play for Leeds City in 1910 before moving to Sheffield United in 1912, Gillespie also made 25 appearances for the Ireland national team. In 1932 he took over as manager of Derry City where he remained until 1940, after leaving Derry, Gillespie moved to the south of England where he lived until his death in 1981. Gillespie started his career with local side Institute in 1907. Having made his Football League debut, Gillespie was largely confined to the reserves but was unhappy at not making further progress, Sheffield United signed Gillespie from Leeds City in December 1912 for £500 for the maximum wage, then £4 per week. Gillespie made his debut on Boxing Day 1911, scoring in a 2–2 draw with Newcastle United and played regularly for the Blades from that point on. Gillespie was denied an FA Cup Winners medal in 1915, when he missed Uniteds victory with a broken leg, received in the first game of the season against Sunderland in September 1914. Following the end of World War I, Gillespie returned to United and resumed his place in the first-team, retaining his position for a further three years, Gillespie began coaching Uniteds young players in during the 1930–31 season, before retiring from playing at the end of that season. Gillespie was offered the position of manager of Derry City in 1932, Gillespie was held in such regard that the club agreed to change their strip to red and white stripes in recognition of his career at Sheffield United. Following World War II he continued with his connection to United, acting as a scout for his team and compiling match. His first cap came in 1913, his two goals giving Ireland their very first victory over England and he was a part of the Ireland side that won the 1914 British Home Championship outright after gaining wins over England and Wales and a draw against Scotland at Windsor Park. Gillespie scored seven goals against England, matching a set by Scotland players Geordie Ker. Gillespie played for the Ireland national team operated by the Irish Football Association, Gillespie held the IFA record for most international goals scored for 78 years, with 13 goals. His record was equalled by Colin Clarke in 1992 and broken by David Healy in 2004, scores and results list Ireland/Northern Irelands goal tally first. Gillespie was born in Kerrykeel, County Donegal, where his father was a constable with the RAC. Gillespie was married to Rosie with three children, Billy, Jane and Tricia. Gillespie served as a gunner during World War I, during which time he lost most of his hair, during World War II he returned to Sheffield where he worked at Hadfields munitions works. Gillespie moved to the south of England following his retirement and died in his sleep in Bexley, Kent on 2 July 1981, aged 89. In September 2013, a plaque was erected at Rabs Park, Kerrykeel

21.
Racecourse Ground
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The Racecourse Ground is a stadium located in Wrexham, North Wales. It is the home of Wrexham AFC, as of August 2016, the stadium has been known as My Racecourse. The record attendance at the ground was set in 1957, when Wrexham hosted a match against Manchester United in front of 34,445 spectators, the Racecourse Ground is the largest stadium in North Wales and the fifth largest in Wales. The ground is used by the FAW for Wales home international games. The ground has also used by North Wales Crusaders rugby league club, Scarlets rugby union club. In the early days, the ground was used for cricket, music concerts returned to the Racecourse in 2016 when the Stereophonics performed. Wrexham Football Club have played at the Racecourse Ground since being formed in the local Turf Hotel public house in October 1864, before the club was formed the ground was mainly used for cricket and occasionally, horse racing. 1952 saw the laying down of concrete terracing on the ever-popular Kop end, five years later was to see the largest ever attendance at the Racecourse when 34,445 people gathered to witness an FA Cup fourth round tie against Manchester United. On 30 September 1959 the Racecourse saw the switching on of the newly installed floodlights, after promotion to the old Second Division in 1978 the Border Stand was built, taking its name from the Border Breweries which owned the ground. This part of the ground is now known as the Eric Roberts Builders Stand, the impressive new structure was originally named the Pryce Griffiths Stand after the then chairman has a capacity of 3,500 and also contains hospitality and conferencing facilities. In 2002 then Wrexham F. C. chairman William Pryce Griffiths secured a 125-year lease on the Racecourse with Wolverhampton Dudley Breweries for £750,000, the club hosted TNS vs Liverpool in a UEFA Champions League qualifier in 2005. On 26 June 2002 the freehold to the Racecourse Ground was acquired by Wrexham A. F. C. from Wolverhampton Dudley Breweries for the sum of £300,000. On the same day the ownership of the freehold was transferred by the chairman, Alex Hamilton, from Wrexham A. F. C. to another of his companies, Damens Ltd, for a nominal fee. After this controversial change in ownership the 125-year lease on the Racecourse held by Wrexham F. C. was renegotiated. The new lease stated that Damens Ltd could evict Wrexham F. C. from the Racecourse Ground upon 12 months notice, the new lease also saw the clubs annual rent increase from £1 to £30,000. On 19 May 2014, work commenced at the Racecourse, this included, the medical and treatment facilities will also be upgraded, together with improved seating for disabled supporters, better floodlighting and removal of cambers at the ‘Kop’ end of the ground. The results mean the stadium has been reclassified to Category 3 level, with the clubs emergence from Administration in May 2006, ownership of the ground passed new company, Wrexham Football Club Ltd, owned by Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts. Thus the new company had two tenants for the stadium, the £40 million project would be developed in conjunction with Glyndŵr University to house over 800 students, and take place in two phases

22.
Wrexham
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Wrexham is the largest town in north Wales and an administrative, commercial, retail and educational centre. Wrexham is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley alongside the border with England, historically part of Denbighshire, the town became part of Clwyd in 1974 and since 1996 has been the centre of the Wrexham County Borough. At the 2011 Census, Wrexham had a population of 61,603, human activity in the Wrexham area dates back to the Mesolithic period. By the early Middle Bronze Age the area had developed into a centre for an innovative metalworking industry, a Roman civilian settlement was located in the Plas Coch area of Wrexham and excavations have revealed evidence of agriculture and trade with the wider Roman world. By the end of the 6th century AD, the area was being contested between the Celtic-speaking inhabitants and the English-speaking invaders advancing from the east, the origins of the name Wrexham may possibly be traced back to this period. Renewed Welsh and Viking attacks led to a reduction in Anglo-Saxon power in north Wales from the early 10th century, following the Welsh reconquest of the area during the 11th century, Wrexham formed part of the native Welsh lordship of Maelor. During the 12th century the lordship was disputed between the Welsh and the English. The first recorded reference to the town in 1161 is to a Norman motte and bailey castle at Wristlesham which was founded in the Erddig area around 1150 by Hugh de Avranches. However, by the early 13th century Wrexham was undisputedly in the hands of the Welsh house of Powys Fadog, stability under the princes of Powys enabled Wrexham to develop as a trading town and administrative centre of one of the two commotes making up the Lordship. Following the loss of Welsh independence on the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282, Wrexham became part of the semi-independent Marcher lordship of Bromfield and Yale. From 1327 onwards, the town is referred to as a villa mercatoria and by 1391 Wrexham was wealthy enough for a bard, jester, juggler, dancer and goldsmith to earn their living there. At the beginning of the 15th century, the local gentry, local poet Glyn Gutor Glyn wrote of Sion ap Madog, the great-nephew of Owain Glyndŵr, as Alecsander i Wrecsam. In the mid 15th century, the church was gutted by fire. The main part of the current church was built in the late 15th, the Acts of Union passed during the reign of Henry VIII brought the lordship into the full system of English administration and law. It became part of the new shire of Denbighshire in 1536, the economic character remained predominantly agricultural into the 17th century but there were workshops of weavers, smiths, nailers as well as dye houses. A grammar school was established in 1603 by Alderman Valentine Broughton of Chester, during the English Civil War, Wrexham was on the side of the Royalists, as most Welsh gentry supported the King, but local landowner Sir Thomas Myddelton, owner of Chirk Castle, supported Parliament. The Industrial Revolution began in Wrexham in 1762 when the entrepreneur John Wilkinson, known as Iron Mad Wilkinson, wilkinsons steam engines enabled a peak of production at Minera Lead Mines on the outskirts of Wrexham. Wrexham was also known for its industry, by the 18th century there were a number of skinners and tanners in the town

23.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

24.
Football in England
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Today Englands top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, with six of the ten richest football clubs in the world. The England national football team is one of only 8 teams to win the World Cup, a total of five English club teams have won the UEFA Champions League. Football was played in England as far back as medieval times, kicking ball games are described in England from 1280. An account of an exclusively kicking game from Nottinghamshire in the fifteenth century bears similarity to association football. By the 16th centuries references to organised teams and goals had appeared, there is evidence for refereed, team football games being played in English schools since at least 1581. The eighteenth-century Gymnastic Society of London is, arguably, the worlds first football club, the Cambridge rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, during the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised a set of rules. These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, the Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games. A match between Sheffield and Hallam F. C. on 29 December 1862 was one of the first matches to be recorded in a newspaper, on 8 March 1873, the England national teams 4–2 win over Scotland at the Oval was the first ever victory in international football. The late nineteenth century was dominated by the split between the amateur and professional teams, which was roughly aligned along a North-South divide. Northern clubs were keen to adopt professionalism as workers could not afford to play on an amateur basis, preston North End were inaugural winners in 1888–89, and were also the first club to complete the double of both winning the league and the FA Cup. Aston Villa repeated the feat in 1896–97 and it remained at 40 until the league was suspended after the 1914–15 season with the outbreak of World War I. Other clubs to win titles in this period include Sheffield United, Manchester United. During the war, competitive football was suspended, however, an unofficial Wartime Football league was played from 1915–16 to 1918–19, although the FA Cup was suspended until after the war. The next season the league was expanded with the Third Division divided into North and South sections. In the 1923–24 season the Third Division North was expanded to 22 clubs, Bolton Wanderers defeated West Ham United to win this landmark game. Bolton Wanderers would win the FA Cup on three occasions during the 1920s, by the turn of the 1930s, the national side regularly played against other national teams from outside the British Isles

25.
Northern Ireland national football team
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The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Football Association of Ireland organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team. Northern Ireland has competed in three FIFA World Cups, reaching the stage in the 1958 and 1982 tournaments. At UEFA Euro 2016, the team made its first appearance at the European tournament, on 18 February 1882,15 months after the founding of the Irish FA, Ireland made their international debut against England, losing 13–0 in a friendly played at Bloomfield in Belfast. This remains the record defeat for the team, and also Englands largest winning margin, on 25 February 1882, Ireland played their second international, against Wales at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, and an equaliser from Johnston became Ireland’s first ever goal. In 1884, Ireland competed in the inaugural British Home Championship, Ireland did not win their first game until 19 February 1887, a 4–1 win over Wales in Belfast. Between their debut and this game, they had a run of 14 defeats and 1 draw, despite the end of this run, heavy defeats continued. On 3 March 1888, they lost 11–0 to Wales and three weeks later, on 24 March, lost 10–2 to Scotland. Further heavy defeats came on 15 March 1890 when they lost 9–1 to England, on 18 February 1899 when they lost 13–2 to England, in 1899, the Irish FA also changed its rules governing the selection of non-resident players. Before then the Ireland team selected its players exclusively from the Irish League, on 4 March 1899, for the match against Wales, McAteer included four Irish players based in England. The change in policy produced dividends as Ireland won 1–0, in 1920, Ireland was partitioned into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. In 1922, Southern Ireland gained independence as the Irish Free State, amid these political upheavals, a rival football association, the Football Association of Ireland, emerged in Dublin in 1921 and organised a separate league and international team. The Irish FA continued to organise its national team on an all-Ireland basis, between 1928 and 1946, the IFA were not affiliated to FIFA and the two Ireland teams co-existed, never competing in the same competition. On 8 March 1950, however, in a 0–0 draw with Wales at the Racecourse Ground in a FIFA World Cup qualifier, the IFA fielded a team that included four players who were born in the Irish Free State. All four players had played for the FAI in their qualifiers. After complaints from the FAI, FIFA intervened and restricted players eligibility based on the political border. In 1953 FIFA ruled neither team could be referred to as Ireland, decreeing that the FAI team be designated as the Republic of Ireland. Until the 1950s, the competition for Northern Ireland/Ireland was the British Home Championship

The Football Association, also known simply as the FA, is the governing body of association football in England, and …

Photo of an early handwritten draft of the 'Laws of the game' for association Football drafted for and behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the National Football Museum, Manchester.